#triviaHenry Ford was a proponent of hiring the handicapped. In 1919, more than
20% of his workforce had some form of disability.

#triviaBeethoven, Schubert, Dvorak, and Mahler all died before completing a
tenth symphony.

#triviaBruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played at the legendary Grand
Ole Opry in April 1976. He stopped by a local record store earlier that day and
only one person recognized him.

#triviaIn 1916, an elephant named Mary was executed by hanging in Erwin,
Tennessee, for killing its circus trainer. The prosecutors agreed upon hanging
after they exhausted the possibilities of firing squad, electrocution, and
dismemberment by train engines.

#triviaThe creator of the iPod first shopped his idea (without success) to
Philips and RealNetworks before Apple agreed to market the device.

#triviaObsessive nose picking is called rhinotillexomania.

#triviaThe sailfish (the fastest swimming fish, clocked at 68 mph) is faster
than the cheetah (the fastest land animal, clocked at 62 mph).

#triviaBVD stands for the last names of the underwear company's three founders:
Bradley, Voorhees, and Day.

#triviaIn 1996, Wylie Gustafson received a one-time flat fee of $590 for his
famous "Yahoo!" yodel heard on TV commercials. In 2002, he sued and
settled for an undisclosed amount.

#triviaThough dragonflies possess 6 legs like any other insect, they cannot
walk.

#triviaMost supermarkets place their bakery areas near the entrance because
studies have shown that the aroma of fresh-baked goods makes customers spend
more money.

#triviaThe first movie star to appear on television was Felix The Cat. The
first broadcast image, made during testing, was a Felix statue rotating on a
turntable.

#triviaPhi Beta Kappa, one of America’s most respectable college honor
societies, actually began as an underground order dead-set on sticking it to
The Man. Founded in 1776, the group provided an outlet for freedom of speech
when governments and universities weren’t keen on respecting that right.

#triviaHolograms are images made using lasers. That said, if you make a
hologram of a magnifying glass, the resulting image would also function as a
magnifying glass.

#triviaBefore Duncan Hines helped create the food label bearing his name, he
wrote popular food and lodging guides.

#triviaThe first seedless grapes were kind of an accident. Thousands of years
ago in the Middle East, a random genetic mutation caused a group of grapes to
spontaneously abort their own seeds before the seeds could develop hard
casings. The result: seedless produce. To reproduce the fruit, a sly farmer
simply cloned the vine (with no seeds, there’s nothing to plant)—meaning that
all seedless grapes today are direct descendants of that one mutated grape
vine.

#triviaOregon is the only state to have a different design on each side of its
flag.

#triviaPrior to the 1800s, people tried to clean their teeth using eggshells and
abrasives. Not until 1824 did an American dentist named Peabody come up with
the idea to add soap to tooth powder, thus giving it a cleansing agent.

#triviaIn 1997, Mikhail Gorbachev appeared in a Pizza Hut commercial.

#triviaMushroom clouds can be created by any huge explosion; they aren't
specific to atomic blasts.

#triviaThe “No animals were harmed…” disclaimer listed in film credits by the
American Human Association doesn’t just cover cute and cuddly animals; they
also have strict rules regarding snakes, rats and insects.

#triviaLions, tigers, and pumas rarely suffer from hairballs since their diet
includes a fair amount of grass, as well as the bones of their prey. The
combination helps thoroughly cleanse their digestive tracts.

21.8.14

#trivia Peridots are the only gems that have
been found in meteorites.

#trivia Before Pixar settled on Toy
Story, other names suggested include Made in Taiwan, Moving
Buddies, and Toyz in the Hood.

#trivia Dimples may be cute, but they are
an inherited genetic flaw. They are caused by a fibrous band of tissue that
connects the skin to an underlying bone.

#triviaWorld Famous Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey is made in only one place:
the small town of Lynchburg, Tennessee, population 361. Though the town
supplies the world with the famous libation, not a drop may be purchased for
consumption anywhere in town. Moore County is a "dry" county, meaning
that the sale and consumption of alcohol is illegal.

#triviaMedieval Japanese samurai burned incense in their helmets so that if
they were decapitated in battle, their head would smell sweet.

#triviaThe word “pie” can be traced to the 13th century, but in the old days,
the dessert was more commonly known as a “coffin" or "coffyn.” In
fact, “coffin” was used in this context for 300 years before it was applied to
a burial casket.

#triviaThe very first TV commercial was for Bulova watches in 1941, and it
aired in the middle of a pro baseball game between the Dodgers and Phillies.
The spot cost nine dollars.

#trivia In a fit of uncharacteristic
decisiveness, President James Buchanan tried to buy Cuba. However, his plans
ground to a halt when Congress refused to give him the dough to purchase the
island, believing that the president would take the money and skip the country.

#trivia After Doyle killed off the popular
Sherlock Holmes in the mid 1890's, over 20,000 readers of The Strand
(the magazine the stories were published in) cancelled their subscriptions.
Later, a reluctant Doyle brought the character back to life for a series of
further adventures.

#triviaWashington State was supposed to be named "Columbia" but the
idea was scrapped because it was thought it would be too easily confused with
"Columbia City" (today commonly referred to as Washington, D.C.).

#trivia For his birthday in 1947, Harry
Truman's friends had a bowling alley installed in the White House. Truman said
he hadn't bowled since he was 19.

#triviaGoosebumps are actually caused by a muscle. It is called the arrector pili
muscle.

#triviaWhen three-letter airport codes became standard in the mid-1930s,
airports that had been using a two-letter identifier simply added an X to their
code, which is why Los Angeles International Airport is known as LAX.

#triviaIn order to better survive the cold, polar bears have evolved to have
black skin, thick blubber, and hollow, translucent hairs that trap heat. Polar
bears are so well-insulated that they are almost invisible under infra-red
light.

#triviaJapanese golfers take out insurance policies against scoring an ace
while golfing, since a player "lucky" enough to get a hole-in-one is
obligated to buy gifts for all his friends.

#triviaIf your doctor is going to perform an auscultation on you, don't worry;
he or she will just be using his stethoscope.

#triviaOnly two people remain who are fluent in Ayapaneco—but they refuse to
talk to each other.

#triviaDespite its 6.5 million square feet of floor space, the Pentagon in
Washington was constructed in such a way that no point in the building is more
than a seven minute walk from any other point in the building.

#triviaThe “mystery flavor” Dum-Dum Pop is truly random. The Spangler Candy
Company combines the last of their flavorings at the end of a production run to
turn out lollipops of mixed (and mysterious) flavors.

#triviaAlfred Hitchcock was notoriously hard on actors. He was once quoted as
saying, “Actors are cattle”—a quip that stirred up a huge outcry. In response,
he issued this correction: “I have been misquoted. What I really said is,
‘Actors should be treated as cattle.’”

#trivia100,000,000,000 solar neutrinos pass through every square inch of your
body every second.